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Alright, I'm AHaloSniper, frequently seen on such places as Halopedia and the Halo Fanon Wiki. I don't know much about the Battletech Universe or it's factions. I just had an idea for a short fanon adventure about a few Mech pilots. The only real exposure to BattleTech I've had was through MechAssault, playing with a friend. If you like the story, great, if you hate the probable breaches in canon, there's not much I can do about it. If you're on the XBox, see you Live-side. 1: Fight or Flight :Location: Undisclosed :Time: Undisclosed :Factions Combatting: Undisclosed :Carrier ''Little Slice of Hell''; Ion Lance Hangar :Flight Officer Micheal Evans breathed heavily in his over-padded flight suit, bathed in soft red light from the rear of the cramped pilot's cabin. The CPLT-C5 'Catapult' Mech wasn't comfortable, but in a good scrape, the four ER Medium Lasers and Arrow-IV missile launchers provided all the comfort he needed. :Outside the cockpit, the hangar bay was dark, and he could only barely make out the other units of Ion Lance, Catapults like his own. The ship, carrier Little Slice of Hell was in orbit above the planet. The mission was to take the entire world. :But first, they were taking something else. :"Deployment in three minutes," a woman said over Ion Lance's team communications channel. "Check your seatbelts, it'll be hell out there." :Probably Lt. Paris on the bridge, who handled all the carrier's Mechwarriors. :He flicked on the spotlights over the Catapult's viewports, and so did his teammates. The hangar was empty except for the six other Mechs in line with his. One of them, emblazoned with blood red warpaint, stepped forward. :"For those of you who don't know me, my name is Captain Juliana Kierce, and I'll be leading the mission. This is no cakewalk, it's a bad idea no one was stupid enough to try before, but we're desperate. Odds are most of us won't be coming back. The objective is to act as Shock Troops. We are going to jump out of this ship, aim for the enemy battleship using our jump jets to maneuver, fight our way into their hangars, and defend the boarding craft so they can storm the ship. And not die while we're doing it. Any questions?" :McCormick, the pilot in the Catapult next to Evans', came on over the com line. :"Are we getting a bonus for all this? Vacation? Hell, extra weekend off a year?" Always the wise guy. :"You get to not eat cannonfire if you stop asking questions." Kierce said flatly, spinning up her Mech's secondary machine gun turret. The other pilots laughed, all knowing it would probably be the last joke they heard in a while. :The bridge lieutenant's voice crackled in over the com again. "Thirty seconds to deployment, stand ready Ion." :Kierce turned her BattleMech towards the wide hangar door, a solid wall of steel about to disappear. "Ion Lance reports all systems check out. Ready to fly." :"Confirmed, opening the hatch. Good luck Ion." :With that, the hangar door suddenly flew open, and what air hadn't been sucked out now pushed the Catapult team into the void of space. 2: Hard Landing :Evans' Mech spun wildly as the artificial gravity of Little Slice of Hell was torn away. Trying not to black out from the shock, he activated his jump jets and oriented his Mech so that the planet was below him. It glowed with blue oceans and green forested land, reminding him of Earth, so far away from here. :The enemy battleship was straight ahead of him, bolts of red laser energy flying from its gun emplacements at the carrier. Snub fighters flew past him, moving to attack a squadron of opposing fighters. All the violent battle, all the death and destruction, was completely silent. The exploding fighter that had been hit by ship cannon fire glowed, but no expected rumble came in the void. :He had only ever fought with his Catapult's iron legs firmly on the ground, where battle was screamed at you. It unnerved him that he had no warning of things he couldn't see. :Captain Kierce and McCormick formed up in front of him, their jump jets glowing on the backs of their Catapults. :"We're all accounted for, on to the target." :Together, seven Mechs drifted through space, surrounded by silent battle. Evans took comfort in the one sound; the constant rumble of the machine's thrusters. As the enemy vessel grew closer, anti-fighter guns began to take shots at them. The men firing on them must have little idea what a lance of Mechs were doing out in the vacuum. :Red beams of laser light streaked by him, coming more than close for comfort. He rocked the Catapult back and forth to keep the gunners from getting a lock on his Mech. :"Evasive action, don't let them get a track on you." Kierce said on the com. :McCormick spoke up next, sounding uneasy. "Ma'am, having a little trouble with my thrusters. Starboard side is non-responsive, I'm drifting." :Evans saw the orange stenciled Catapult drifting over his field of vision, the right jump jet sparking and beginning to go out. :"Hang in there. Evans, see if you can guide McCormick into the target." Kierce replied. :"On it." But just as he said it, a red bolt impaled the slow Catapult, and it blossomed into a blazing orange fireball just above him, the pilot's scream cut off. In the emptiness, it all unfolded without so much as a whimper, and McCormick was gone. :Evans steered around the debris field and looked for any hope that he had been able to eject. All that remained was glowing molten metal, which cooled in a flash and became shiny beads of streamlined Mech rubble. Without time to grieve for his friend, he turned back to the mission. :Swerving, he got out of the targeting of one of the ship gunners. If this kept up, none of them would ever make it to the ship itself. :A new voice came in on the com channel. "Ion Lance, this is Gamma Squadron Leader. We'll cut across you, try and draw their fire!" :Kierce answered. "It would be much appreciated, go ahead." :No sooner had she replied than four delta-wing fighters swept down in front of them, and the gunners on the target ship adjusted to fire on them. :"We're taking the heat, Ion, give 'em a little slice a' hell down there." :"Will do Gamma Lead. Ion, we're approaching the target. Prepare to magnetize." :Evans tapped his jets to slow his descent onto the battleship's hull. Below and about 150 meter from him, Kierce activated the newly installed magnets on her Catapult's legs, and locked to the surface of the ship. :As she walked towards their first target, a cluster of anti-fighter turrets, Evans took a look at his landing space. It wasn't good. :Just below him, two segments of hull plating met, split by a canyon just wide enough to fit the Mech. Unable to move in time, Evans shot for the center of the crevice, hoping not to scrape the walls too badly. :But with the ship constantly moving, he hit the side of the canyon wall and was assaulted by the shriek of metal clawing at metal. When he finally hit the bottom, he had lost one of his shoulder mounted Arrow missile racks. :Evans could see into limited portions of the ship, and men in gray dress uniforms ran to escape, or stood frozen at being feet away from a towering steel death machine. He could have spun up his chaingun and ended them all, but he saw no need for wanton violence. :"Captain?" he said over his com, "Can you hear me? I fell into a canyon, please advise, over." :After a moment, "Evans, stay in the canyon and make your way to the target, then climb out. I'll meet you there." :He shut off his com. :"Well, as ordered." he muttered, and started down the convenient passageway. Stunned servicemen ran for cover as the massive Catapult made it's way to the gunnery station. Once, a squad of vacuum suited marines tried to board him. He dealt with them with his chaingun, killing three outright. The last was wounded, and Evans had to watch as the man suffocated. :With that memory haunting him, Evans was glad to finally climb out of that abyss. Looking around as his magnetic feet locked to the deck, he spied Kierce behind a control tower. Her Catapult ran up to his and turned toward the gun battery a short way from them. :"Evans, fire missiles on my mark. Mark!" :Arrows streaked away, leaving ghostly trails of mist to their target. The battery exploded, and this time he at least felt it through the shaking hull. :Evans smiled. "Piece of cake." :"Team Two should be finished up with the other battery, let's get to the hangar bay." Kierce said, turning her Mech. 3: The Cake was a Lie :After making their way to the door of the ship's lone hangar, they met up with another Catapult, 1st Lt. Spade. :"I'm all that's left ma'am." he explained. "The battery turned on us. Took a hell of a fight to put it down." :Kierce floated in front of the hangar door. "Alright, on my mark, blast it open. Ready . . ." :Without warning, the doors flung open on their own, and all Evans saw was a massive slug shoot out of the hangar and into the cabin of Kierce's Mech. The Catapult drifted away, spinning slightly, then took another hit and the entire Mech detonated, both as violently and silently as McCormick's had. :Evans had caught a glimpse of the attacker as he was about to go inside the hangar: a long range assault cannon, tied and bolted to the hangar deck. :Keeping ducked behind the edge of the opening, he looked over to Spade. "Now what?" :"Like I know!" Spade commed back, his Mech flinching as a slug flew past his cover. :"Screw this, cover me!" Evans shouted, and ran into the hangar. :Spade did, loosing a volley of missiles as the cannon tried to adjust to track Evans. It tried to switch targets again, and Evans' Catapult was behind the gun. Blowing away a few vacuum suited infantry, he about-faced and fired a laser cannon, snapping one of the steel cables holding the gun down. After doing the same with the other side, Evans pushed his Mech up against the back of the cannon and heaved. :Inside, he could hear the Catapult's servos whirring, and pistons straining. As he was about to give in to avoid damaging the Mech, the cannon shifted, and tumbled out of the hangar. Spade loosed another volley of Arrows, and the gun suffered the same fate as McCormick and Kierce. :"Ion Lance to boarding craft, bring it in." he said triumphantly into the com channel. :A few minutes later, a troop ship swung into the hangar and vacuum fitted infantry began streaming into the ship. The bridge lieutenant on Little Slice of Hell spoke into the com. :"Pack it up Ion, you're coming home." :Two hours later, he climbed down the Catapult's boarding ladder and stood next to Spade, the carriers Captain on his way down. The door slid open, and the pair saluted. Vice Admiral Piett, garbed in a navy dress uniform, saluted them back. :"At ease, Ion Lance. Is this all that made it back?" he asked. :"Yes, sir." :"Sorry to hear it. Congratulations, you two have just made the first Mech ship-to-ship boarding in history. You'll be in the textbooks for this. But for now, you're being reassigned. You are providing fire support for a Prometheus, piloted by Andrew Forge. He'll join you in this hangar soon enough. For now though, have this." He handed Evans a bottle of Champagne. "You two are off-duty for the next twelve hours. After that, it's back to hell. Good day." :The admiral strolled out of the hangar, and the two relaxed as the door slid shut. :"Prometheus? We're sure to have some heavy combat where that thing goes." Spade mused. :"I got the couch in the pilot's lounge!" Evans said, and raced off, fully intending to enjoy his well deserved break.